Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann took five wickets in only his second Test and then opener Usman Khawaja hit a half-century as Australia posted 156 for four in their first innings on the opening day of the third Test on Wednesday. Kept the upper hand by taking a run lead. On a spin-friendly pitch, Kuhneman (5/16) and experienced off-spinner Nathan Lyon (3/35) bundled out India for 109 in 33.2 overs.
Virat Kohli top-scored for India with 22 off 52 balls while Shubman Gill, who replaced the out-of-form Lokesh Rahul, scored 21 runs. In response, Australia kept their position strong in the match with a 96-run partnership for the second wicket between Khawaja (60) and Marnus Labuschagne (31). This is Australia’s highest partnership of the series. At the end of the day’s play, Peter Handscomb was playing for seven while Cameron Green was playing for six.
India started the bowling as expected with the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja (4/63). Jadeja trapped Travis Head (09) in the second over of the innings itself. The on-field umpire did not give him out but he had to change his decision after taking DRS. Labushen also played Jadeja’s ball on the wickets after this but it became a no-ball. Labushen took full advantage of this lifeline and together with Khawaja, till tea, Australia’s score reached 71 runs for one wicket.
Labushen was lucky in the 11th over of Ashwin’s innings when a credible appeal for lbw did not go for DRS and replays showed the ball would have hit the wickets. Even after tea, India had to wait a long time for success. Khawaja completed his half-century in 102 balls with one run off Ashwin in the 30th over. Australia’s century was also completed in this over. Jadeja gave India the second success by bowling Labushen on a low ball on the score of 108 runs. Khawaja also caught Gill at midwicket in an attempt to sweep Jadeja’s ball after this.
He hit four fours while facing 147 balls. Captain Steve Smith played some attractive shots during his 38-ball 26 but was caught by wicket-keeper Bharat off Jadeja. Handscomb and Green, however, did not allow Australia to suffer further setbacks after this. Like the first two Tests, the pitch was expected to favor the spinners a lot but the Holkar Stadium pitch showed a lot of turn in the first hour and kept the ball low on a few occasions which was a bit surprising.
After losing seven wickets in the first session, India lost their remaining three wickets in the second session adding 25 runs. Kuhnemann produced the best performances of his career in first-class cricket. If Umesh Yadav had not played an innings of 17 runs in 13 balls with two sixes and a four, then India would have struggled to cross the 100-run mark. Earlier, the strategy of adopting an aggressive approach on a spin-friendly pitch cost India dearly and three of the hosts’ batsmen Rohit Sharma (12), Ravindra Jadeja (04) and Shreyas Iyer (00) were dismissed trying to adopt an aggressive approach.
After winning the toss for the first time in the series, Indian captain Rohit decided to bat first as expected. Starc troubled Rohit on swinging balls in the very first over. The very first ball took a slight edge off Rohit’s bat but Australia didn’t take DRS. Three balls later, an inside ball from Starc hit Rohit’s pad and this time also Australia did not resort to DRS, while replays showed that the ball would have hit the off-stump.
Australia tried a spinner in the form of Kuhnemann in the sixth over and Rohit missed the last ball of his over in an attempt to play forward and was stumped by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Kuhneman then got Gill (21) caught by Smith in the slips. Cheteshwar Pujara (01) was bowled by Lyon on a fast-spinning ball from the off side after playing just four balls. Jadeja avoided lbw by resorting to DRS off Lyon but played the very next ball to Kuhnemann at short extra cover, leaving India at 44 for four.
Iyer returned to the pavilion after playing Kuhneman’s ball on the wickets, due to which India lost half of its team in the opening hour itself. Kohli and Shrikar Bharat (17) added 26 runs for the sixth wicket. The couple looked confident. Murphy lbw Kohli. Bharat hit Murphy for a six but missed a straight ball from Lyon and was trapped leg before. After lunch, Kuhneman got Ashwin caught by Carey. Umesh took the team’s score past 100 runs in the 31st over with sixes over Lyon and then Murphy. Kuhneman took Umesh lbw for the first time in the innings for five wickets while the run out of Mohammad Siraj (0) ended the Indian innings.
